Is you old IKEA furniture worth thousands?

That old wardrobe of chest of drawers could be better than the winning lottery ticket you've been hoping for..

Whether you either love or hate IKEA furniture, most of us own it.

From new homeowners on a budget to students looking to pimp out their university halls, IKEA furniture caters for all. They have a lot to offer but you might not associate the brand with big price tags. And by big we are talking tens of thousands…

Unfortunately, the standard IKEA flatpack furniture sitting in your home by the truck load is not going to make you big bucks. But some items from the Swedish retailer have got collectors very excited. High-end auction houses are seeing collectors pay up to £50,000 for rare vintage items, including chairs, tables and cabinets from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

The Daily Mail reports that many of the most sought-after items were ones that originally got little interest in an eBay bidding war. Other items were the product of collaborations between IKEA and designers. The ‘mushroom chair’ was released a year after the store was founded in 1943 and is apparently the most popular, and expensive, vintage IKEA item so far. It has fetched up to £50,000 at auction.

Image: Barnebys

Leather chairs from the ’80s are said to be worth £875 while an iconic Bergslagen sideboard could bring in a huge £2,275.

Image: Barnebys

Green chairs designed by Erik Wortz have an estimated worth of £1,500 EACH.

Image: Barnebys

The news originally came from the search engine Barnebys, which tracks sales from 2,000 auction houses, and spotted the trend for vintage IKEA furniture.

The search engine’s co-founder Pontus Silfverstolpe spoke with the Daily Mail and said: “Our records show that there is a huge demand, greater than ever before, for vintage IKEA furniture. There has been a big boom within the last year that has been felt in markets all across the world.”

Potnus also dropped some shade on the popular home-furnishing store when he added: “Unlike many of their items today, IKEA’s older products were actually made very well and have stood the test of time.” Ouch!

IKEA was founded in 1943 and have 392 stores across the world making it the largest ever furniture retailer.